International development and belief in progress

Though interest in religious faith is growing in development studies, more needs to be done to show how faith commitments shape approaches to development. This paper models for non-specialists ways in which the content of one particular faith tradition, the Christian tradition, might be brought to bear on development theory and practice. The particular issue explored is the belief in progress implicit in development. The paper argues that belief in the capacity of human beings to effect their own progress sits uneasily with the Christian tradition. It concludes that an authentically Christian account of hope may lead to a richer Christian understanding of the good of development. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.